Skull Cavern

Skull Cavern Entrance

The Skull Cavern resides in a cave in the northwest corner of the Calico Desert. It is initially locked and requires the Skull Key to gain access.

After entering the Cavern for the first time, the following day a letter is received from Mr. Qi giving a quest called "Qi's Challenge." The quest is completed by reaching level 25 of the Cavern, for which the player is awarded 10,000G.

Every ten levels the chance to find Iridium Ore increases significantly and reaches maximum concentration at level 100. The monsters in the Cavern can also drop ore and Iridium Bars.

If the player runs out of health while exploring Skull Cavern, the player blacks out, wakes up later in the same day in Harvey's Clinic, and is charged 1000g for emergency surgery. Some items may be lost.

The plaques that can be occasionally found on the walls contain enciphered messages.

Going Deeper

Like The Mines, the player advances to new floors by finding a ladder by mining rocks or defeating monsters. Additionally to a ladder, the player can sometimes find a hole and is offered a choice of whether or not to jump down. Jumping down causes a small amount of damage and skips a random number (3-15) of floors.

Unlike the Mines, the Cavern offers no elevator and has no limits to its depth. Each visit must start again from the first level.

Strategy

It can be a good idea to bring the strongest weapon available to the player at the time - preferably the Lava Katana or the Galaxy Sword if the player can obtain it.

Always Go Down

Since the frequency of Iridium Ore increases for every 10 levels descended into the Cavern, rapid descent is often more efficient for acquiring ore than thorough exploration.

Lucky Day

As with many other things, high Luck increases the frequency of ore veins, item drops, and the appearance of ladders/holes. Coming to the Cavern on a lucky day can increase success.

Items and Equipment

Food

Useful foods for spelunking in the Skull Cavern:

• Luck: Lucky Lunch (+3), Pumpkin Soup (+2), Spicy Eel (+1), Fried Eel (+1)
• Speed: Spicy Eel (+1), Coffee (+1), Crab Cakes (+1)
• Defense: Pumpkin Soup (+2), Autumn's Bounty (+2)

Note that Spicy Eel is sometimes dropped by the Serpent monsters that are common in the Cavern.

Warp Totems

A Warp Totem can be used to make a quick exit if supplies are running low or the day is almost over.

Explosives

Bombs make quick work of densely-clustered stones and ore veins. They're also necessary for permanently defeating Mummies.

• Buy Cherry Bombs from the Dwarf for 300g or craft with 4 Copper Ore and 1 Coal.
• Buy Bombs from the Dwarf for 600g or craft with 4 Iron Ore and 1 Coal.
• Buy Mega Bombs from the Dwarf for 1000g or craft with 4 Gold Ore, 1 Solar Essence, and 1 Void Essence.

Slingshot

The Slingshot's Explosive Ammo can make very rapid work of small groups of stones, Iridium Ore deposits, and incapacitated Mummies.

Loading the Slingshot with Gold Ore deals substantial damage, making it potentially useful for dispatching tough targets.

Rings

Magnet Rings

The increased attraction radius of the Small Magnet Ring, Magnet Ring, or Iridium Band can be useful, especially when using explosives to mine clusters of stone or ore.

Burglar's Ring

The Burglar's Ring, acquired by fulfilling Gil's goal of slaying 500 Dust Sprites, can be valuable for getting larger amounts of useful drops from enemies. Serpents can drop Bombs and Spicy Eel while Purple Slimes can drop Iridium Ore.

Slime Charmer Ring

Use the Slime Charmer Ring, acquired by fulfilling Gil's goal of slaying 1000 Slimes, for bypassing the common slime enemies in the cavern and negating their slowing debuff.

Savage Ring

The Savage Ring provides a Speed boost on slaying a monster which can make up for time spent combating the cavern's denizens.

Staircase

Staircases can be used for rapid descent or skipping troublesome levels. Since staircases do not stack, it can be more space-efficient to bring plenty of Stone and craft the staircases as needed.

Monsters

Image	Monster	HP	Damage	Notes
File:Armoured Bug Anim.gif	Armored Bug		8	Cannot be killed by any currently known means.
	Big Slime	60	5	Splits into smaller Slimes when killed. Big Slimes in the Skull Cavern are always purple.
	Purple Slime	410	28	Can drop Iridium Ore, Iridium Bar
	Lava Bat	80	15	Appears rarely; flies.
	Mummy	260	30	Needs to be finished with a Bombs of any type after being knocked out with other weapons. If a bomb does enough damage to knock the Mummy out, it will also destroy it.
	Serpent	150	23	Moves quickly; default flying enemy.